CVS to Sell $99 Netbook … Disappoint Many Consumers

Starting in September CVS shoppers will be able to pick up a Sylvania netbook for just $99, a $159 value according to the leaked ad posted on Engadget. At first glance this may seem like the ultimate buy for a low need computer user but even without the detailed specs we can safely say that it won’t be the netbook most consumers are looking for.

Though the specs haven’t been announced, at this price it will likely come with a 7″ screen and old technology. The ad shows a Windows CE logo, which means that the netbook won’t be running an operating system that your average consumer will be familiar with such as Windows XP or Windows 7 Starter which come on most current and even older netbooks. Because this netbook uses an older operating system it will not be able to install every program a newer system would support, including those many shoppers would expect.

Average consumers will be better served by saving up for a used netbook tunning Windows XP and an Intel Atom processor or looking for some of the back to school $300 notebooks that offer significantly more value.

28 Responses

Seems the CVS netbook is like a mobile i-Opener device. Had an i-Opener. Worked okay for the $100 intro price at first. Then became too outdated to be of any use. Got tossed out one trash day. Seems the CVS netbook might be okay for a low need internet user or a satisfactory mobile device to supplement a home PC.

I got one of these a couple of days ago. For the money, no complaints. I do not use expensive cell phone based internet access, so this is good for what I need. Where ever I can find a WiFi, I’m good. It’s about half as big as my laptops, so will be handy to take along.

PLEASE NOTE! The specs listed in this article are for the Sylvania G Netbook.. the PREDECESSOR to the current 7-in netbook being sold at CVS. In fact, it appears to me that the author of this article did NOT verify the accuracy of his statements. The 7-inch Syvania Netbook being sold at CVS is nothing more than an oversized POCKET PC (an oversized PDA). There is NO hard drive in this netbook.. your files can be saved to an internal 2GB SD card. Think about it.. if it had a hard drive installed; don’t you think they could get a better OS other than WinCE installed? Like maybe Linux or even a stripped down version of WinXP? This “oversized PDA” only has 128MB of internal RAM. When was the last time you could run anything, of any value on 128MB? Possibly, maybe 8 years ago.. but not in today’s world. Furthermore, the hardware is so limited, that the powers that be at Sylvania couldn’t even install the Android OS. As of right now, WinCE is several years old. Has minimal support (it was build on the Windows 2000 platform, that’s why it looks so much like Windows98SE). IMHO, you’d be best served saving up your money and go to Target and but a TRUE netbook from Target, WalMart or BestBuy for around $200. I know that Target was selling a 10.1in Acer Atom with 1.6GHz processor, and a 160GB processor running Windows 7 Starter Edition. Ever wonder how CVS can sell the 7-inch laptop for $99 and make a decent profit? That’s because there might be $50 in parts and software combined. At best the $99 7-inch Sylvania Netbook would be suitable for a “children’s” toy. Internet Explorer 6 should run on WinCE but you’ll never get Mozilla Firefox to run on 128MB.

I AM SICK AND TIRED OF CVS. MISLEADING ADS.. MORE THAN MONTH AGO I PLACE MY NAME ON THE LIST AT LOCAL DAYTONA BEACH CVS AT INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY AND OCCASSIONALY I WENT THERE TO ASK FOR LAPTOP … THEY ALWAYS TELL ME THAT MY NAME IS ON THE TOP AND GOING TO GET NEXT WEEK…THAN NEXT WEEK. THAN THIS FRIDAY… ALL IS FALSE MISLEADING INFORMATION…. HOPE THE GOVERNMENT AND REGULATORY AUTHORITIES STOP THIS NON SENSE AND FINE THEM FOR SUCH A MISLEADING AD. AND FRAUD TO THE PUBLIC…. IS ANY ONE CARE ABOUT THAT AT THE CVS HEADOFFICE… PLEASE LET ME KNOW

Trust me you dont want this JUNK!!! it does not even work I bought 3 of them for my kids for christmas and not one of them have worked.. Now CVS does not even want to return them because all of them have been returned to the store!!!!! BIG WASTE OF MONEY!!!!!!!!

I just worked on one of these for one of my wife’s co-workers. I would strongly suggest against buying one of these. Even for the occasional internet user this “net book” is still not optimal. In many cases people have problems with just getting them to connect to the internet alone. Spend a little more money and buy a real net book, for a little more you could actually have a realistic amount of functionality.

The screen is small and grainy. The keys are cramped. The OS is so stripped-down that it’s basically useless. It’s slow, unintuitive, unresponsive junk. It doesn’t have any useful applications onboard, either – the preloaded apps are useless on such an outdated hardware set, and IE (which is the only option!) and the Youtube app don’t function correctly without a recent version of Flash, which WinCE is incapable of running. Even the battery and wireless network devices are unreliable crap.

Do not buy this piece of crap. If someone gives you one, return it to the store and slap the fool out of the giver. BAD BUY.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I was thinking of getting one of these for my daughters who are 8 and 5 so they could just access the internet for some school work and some kids sites. But after hearing how out dated it is, it would probably only frustrate them when they want to watch a video or something, since you can’t really download the most updated flash and such. I will just spend a little more and get a better netbook.

Obviously, no one who has commented on this product is being realistic. I bought this product with the expectation of it doing exactly what it was made for — a limited and temporary stand-in for a computer. This is for when you’re away from home and need to go on the internet, e-mail and, perhaps,view photos from a digital camera or writing. If you think this $100 device could be used to substitute a desktop, laptop or netbook, your expectation are unrealistic. I love mine. It’s conveniently portable, unlike a laptop or netbook, and I didn’t expect to do much more than download images, write or communicate with people through e-mail on it. I certainly didn’t expect to do any sophisticated programs on this device. It is basic computing, like they say on the box and in the quick start guide. I think it’s great for students.

i got one it claims to be able to play youtube videos but it just ignores me when i try to get them playing. typed up some homework assignments and checked email on it that is about all i can do. also i put a wmv file on it and it was about three frames per second super slow and skippy

I bought one of these and had to return it. Very, very slow when it did work. I tried for 2 weeks to reach support number, left 6 messages, and not even 1 call was returned. Piece of junk. Don’t waste your time or money. CVS did return my money with no questions asked.

I bought one of these for my son who is 10 yrs old he really loved it until he tried recharging it and it never worked again. Taking it back to CVS. Even the sales rep at CVS said make sure to hang onto the receipt because he had a customer who returned 2 of them for the same reason, they did not hold a charge! Not a suggested buy.

TO EVERYONE WHO SAYS YOU SHOULDN’T EXPECT MORE FOR $100: You are morons and deserve to be robbed of that 100 bucks in this way.

I’m SORRY, but for $100 I DO expect MUCH MORE than this garbage. In fact, I would be willing to spend $10 MAXIMUM on this heap of dross. Why? Because for $100 or $150 I can buy a used or refurbished REAL netbook with reasonable specs, which can actually perform basic tasks like display normal web pages, stream video, chat, play games, etc. IN FACT, I just googled it right now: some sites are selling refurbished Asus Eee PC 900A netbooks for $58 – FIFTY-EIGHT DOLLARS – and those have a whole gig of RAM and a real hard drive!

So no, you idiots, the hardware you’re buying here for $100 is NOT worth EVEN REMOTELY that. But hey, if you like to throw away money on what amounts to a PalmPilot with a bigger screen, be my guest. Natural selection at its finest.

However Janet is right, maybe not about the 58 dollar Asus, but a quick search on places like CraigsList, can easily allow you to find a net-book to your liking, for close to the same price. Yes I bought this net-book, and its 300 MHz ARM processor is nothing to be proud of, but I didn’t buy it for what it is posted for, I use it to mess with Google Android, even though its an Outdated version, it proves to be fun for the geek side of me. However those of you out there looking to purchase this net-book for your kids, friends and the like, I would suggest against it. Shop elsewhere in this case, Walmart is definitely better if any store for cheap net-book, laptop shopping.

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